¶ … persuade the audience using the scientific method, experimentation and data. There are two typical approaches this may take: the syntagmatic approach or the paradigmatic approach. Within the former, there is a systematic assignment of structure that is designed to logically allow for cognition of the hypothesis under consideration, while the paradigmatic approach looks at the interrelationships between events and actors throughout the entire text. Using the syntagmatic approach one categorizes themes, data sets, and variables to aid in the understanding of the materials. Using the paradigmatic approach, the reader is taken through chronology and events and then asked to make assumptions and connections between causality (Blevins, n.d.).
Paradigms, of course, are models that help us understand broader concepts and constructs. Author Blevins points out that there are a number of units that constitute paradigms, and it is dependent upon which types are linked through structures and organization that make them understandable to the reader. "The paradigm of an item can be organized into sub-paradigms, whose members are more closely associated with each other than with members of the other sub-paradigms" (p. 2). This helps one understand the way different languages use different forms for case, tense and the overall structure of the basic tenets of the language (e.g. German vs. Finnish).
From a basic linguistic perspective, we know...
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